Penny For Your Thoughts
by Loisarah
Summary: Joe and Westlake just can't keep certain thoughts out of their minds...


  
  
"Penny For Your Thoughts"  
by Loisarah   
  
Disclaimer: Characters property of Pet Fly Productions and Paramount...   
lyrics by artists and record companies. I own only the situation, and this   
is written for fun, and not profit. Trust me... no money out of this.  
  
Archive Permission: To Kris, yes, anyone else, ask.  
  
Spoilers: Split Decision  
  
Timeline: Maybe a month or so after Split Decision.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Summary: You know how some days you can't get certain thoughts out of your   
mind? Ever think a penny for your thoughts is a bit too high a price?  
  
Author's Notes: I *really* don't know what possessed me to write this... I   
was watching "My Fair Hoodlums" (and as I'm writing this I'm watching   
Seinfeld with the thief from that episode playing a snobby clothing   
salesman... weird) and at the end, when Joe and Westlake are taunting   
Frankie with keeping the mouse... and she has on that midriff with a   
zipper... it evolved from there. ;)  
  
If you don't like innuendo and stuff like that, stop reading here. Just a   
warning.  
  
Lyrics come from a random sampling of radio stations. ;)  
  
  
  
  
The Complex, a Thursday, around 5pm  
  
Focus. That's all he had to do, was focus… on something other than the   
loop at the end of the zipper on Cameron's shirt. All he'd have to do was   
slip his finger through that loop and tug... just one good long tug...  
  
"So what do you think, Joe?"  
  
He looked up a few inches to see her watching him from across the table   
in the Complex.   
  
"Huh?"  
  
"The Cosgrove break-in. Inside job?"  
  
"Oh, yeah, probably. Frankie doing background checks on the employees?"   
he asked, nodding his head in Frankie's direction.  
  
"Yes, he is." Cameron looked at Joe a bit more attentively. He seemed   
nervous about something. "So... what were you thinking of, Joe?" she asked,   
smiling.  
  
"Nothing... the case... um... I need some more coffee."  
  
"Sure." She looked back down at her notes as Joe got up to get more   
coffee. "It's not like you've had enough caffeine yet or anything." She   
looked up in time to see Joe make a face at her. She couldn't help but laugh   
at his reaction.  
  
"Hey, you think you can stop playing footsie under the table long enough   
to come here and look at this?" yelled Frankie from the computer terminal.  
  
"Frankie!"   
  
**********  
  
Friday, in the Viper, around 1pm  
  
  
Cameron was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable in the Viper with Joe...   
neither of them were talking, and things just seemed too quiet. She looked   
over at Joe, who was totally absorbed in driving, or at least pretending to   
be. He didn't seem to notice her watching him at all.  
  
Cameron's gaze shifted to his hand resting on the stick shift. She   
watched the way he held it, his fingers absently stroking back and forth...   
Deciding it best to take her attention off Joe, she gazed out the window,   
only to glance back at him a minute later. She watched him as he drove, the   
wind from his open window stirring his hair, reminding her of running her   
fingers through it... Cameron decided to open the file folder sitting in her   
lap, shifting the papers and photos back and forth, reading lines here and   
there... trying to get her mind off...  
  
"Cameron?"  
  
Her head snapped up and she looked at Joe. "What?"  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked, adding, "You've been a bit on the quiet side   
today."  
  
"Oh, um, just have things on my mind, I guess." She was still looking at   
Joe when he turned his attention back to the road. Cameron bit her lip as   
she watched him stick out his tongue and wet his dry lips.  
  
"Uhm..." escaped her lips before she could help it.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Um... I'm... radio... I'm going to turn on the radio," she managed to   
sputter. Closing the file, she leaned forward to turn on the radio... not   
noticing Joe's sideways glance to see how high her midriff shirt would go up   
in the back when she did.  
  
As Cameron leaned back in her seat, the lyrics of the song started to   
register in her mind.  
  
**You wear nothing but you wear it so well  
Tied up and twisted, the way I'd like to be  
For you, for me, come crash into me**  
  
She quickly leaned forward and changed the station, hastily adding, "I   
um.. hate that song," to answer Joe's questioning look.  
  
**I can do it to you gently...**  
  
"Nope," she muttered, still leaning forward, moving to the next station.  
  
**Stay the night there's room enough here for two...**  
  
"Don't like that one, either." The next station was playing a blaring   
ad, the man's loud voice announcing Ladies' Night at a local bar.  
  
**DOLLAR DOLLAR DOLLAR DRINK SPECIALS! That's right, dollar drinks   
including Sex on the beach**  
  
" I hate commercials."  
  
**That thong, thong, thong...**  
  
"God, no."  
  
**I left something turned on at home...**  
  
"I don't like country that much..."  
  
"Since when?" asked Joe. "I've seen your CDs, Cameron."  
  
"Um..." she hesitated, "Next station."  
  
**You and me baby ain't nothing but mammals  
so let's do it like they do it on the Discovery Channel**  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"I don't know, I kinda like that song," he baited her.  
  
"Whatever, Joe. Stick to driving, stud."  
  
"Stud?"   
  
"Stud, cowboy, whatever."  
  
"Bit on the touchy side today, Detective?"  
  
"Jooooe...."  
  
Knowing that tone in her voice, Joe hid a smile and decided to quit while   
he was ahead.  
  
"Next station..." she said, still trying to find a song.  
  
**Doin' it and doin' it and doin' it wild**  
  
Cameron clicked the radio off in disgust, and leaned back again. So much   
for getting her mind off... things...  
  
"We're here."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said we're here... Catlett's office. Time to go meet with the boss   
man."   
  
Cameron sighed. "Oh, thank god."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nothing. Let's go."  
  
  
  
**********  
  
Friday night, at the Complex... say 7pm-ish...  
  
  
Frankie didn't know which was worse.. Joe and Westlake not dating... or   
Joe and Westlake dating. Either way, he was convinced they'd be the reason   
for his early retirement and the early onset of dementia. Forget being shot   
at on a somewhat regular basis, being used as a hood ornament on a Mack   
truck, or going undercover as "Huggie Bear" the pimp, Mr. T starter kit and   
all... what would drive him crazy would be his partners. Or Catlett. It was   
a toss-up, really, as to which side would make him go postal first.  
  
He rubbed his eyes and looked from his computer to the kitchen area,   
watching Joe and Westlake awkwardly getting coffee and water refills without   
bumping into each other in any way.  
  
"Well, something's obviously going on there," he thought to himself...   
debating on whether he should step in and mediate the latest conflict.   
That's when he heard it... the Freudian slip...  
  
"God, I am so tired of looking at these cases over and over... when are   
we going to go to bed... home to bed, I mean... you know... for the night....   
oh, my god..." trailed off Westlake.  
  
Frankie'd never seen her so flustered... nor Joe with his mouth hanging   
open so wide... and speechless. If *that* was the issue between them,   
Frankie was *not* stepping in this time.  
  
Noticing that neither had moved yet, Frankie quietly stood up, walked to the   
coat rack, put on his jacket, and stepped onto the elevator. "Hey, see you   
guys later. Have fun," he yelled, before heading out of the complex.  
  
As the elevator moved up, Frankie muttered to himself, "I just hope they   
work this out soon... for my sake." He had other things to think about   
besides his partners' sex life... like his own. He pulled his cell phone   
out of his pocket and dialed.  
  
"Hey, Dominique... Dom, it's Frankie. Nice running into you the other   
day at Metropol..."  
  
The End  
  
  
Author's note: Yes, I had to throw in "The Thong Song" because I can't seem   
to turn on the radio anymore without hearing it! ;)  
  
Comments welcome to either Lloisarah@aol.com or det_westlake@hotmail.com  
  



End file.
